BBC - South Yorkshire Sense of Place - Barry Hines Contact Us South Yorkshire People: Barry Hines Above: David Bradley as Billy Casper and the late Brian Glover as Mr. Sugden in the original film of "Kes". Sheffield-based Barry Hines is the famed author of "A Kestrel for a Knave", amongst other novels. We caught up with him for an exclusive interview... PRINT THIS PAGE View a printable version of this page. An entertaining and charming man, Barry Hines, of Kes fame, agreed to be interviewed at his desk. This Barnsley/ Sheffield United fan wrote a number of novels and screenplays before and after Kes and he is in the process of writing Springwood Stars, a novel about a football team in the 20s. He describes it as more dramatic and completely different to anything he has ever written before. Barry Hines wanted to write about real working-class people His inspiration He started to write, he says, because he read and wanted to read novels that, like Allan Sillitoe and Stan Barstows work, had real working class men and women as their main characters.

His first novel was called The Blinder. It was based to a certain extent on himself and his aspirations; an extremely academic footballer with 4 A levels and the chance of playing for Manchester United. He says he wrote with more energy then and that those novels are so far away that he no longer feels they are anything to do with him. Hines shies away from the whole Kes thing and finds it mildly amusing that people are still performing the play, a combination of modesty and real disbelief. He says, Theyve done it in all sorts of ways, theyve even done a musical, all thats left is to do it on ice. In Hines's opinion, the best thing he has written is a short play called Two Men from Derby which he claims wrote itself. It was based on the experience of his granddad, who had a great talent for football but never realised his potential as he was a bit of a Jack the Lad.

About Kes Hines talks about how he came to choose a bird in the novel; he and his brother used to watch them nesting every year in a wall close to his home and they always wanted one. They dont like to make eye contact, he says of hawks, they sulk, it makes them feel uncomfortable. Although he claims the character of Billy is not him, he hints at a relatively wide knowledge of kestrels and their habits as is evident from the novel. Hines kept baby magpies as a child and humorously related his experiences of stealing them from their nests (something he regrets now), fattening them up on scraps of food and having them flying around the house until they were strong enough to be set free, which would roughly coincide with the time his mother said that bird has to go. The bird would always sit on the windowsill outside and look in, he reminisces, before it finally flew away.

Barry Hines based his characters in Kes on stereotypical characters around him at the time and admits that he sympathises more with the character of Mrs Casper, the struggling mother trying to raise two boys and hold down a full-time job, now that he is an older man. Barry Hines today These days Barry Hines reads mainly American novels because of their energy. He comments on the vigour of the language in these novels. Roddy Doyle, Philip Roth and Walter Mosely are among his favourite writers. He also visits The Showroom regularly, continuing a lifetime of cinema going and says his writing technique is based on watching films. He calls it a show and tell style which gives the reader the opportunity to form his or her own thoughts and opinions. Barry said his bit of an office job, as an apprentice-mining surveyor, became a teaching job when Mr Hawksworth, a neighbour, showed disapproval for him working for the Rockingham Colliery near where he used to live. Asked if he thinks there will be a remake of the film Kes, Barry Hines shakes his head.

Despite the main issues still being relevant today, he feels the original film is such a classic that it would be impossible to even attempt to re-create it. - Paulette Edwards Barry Hines obituary: author of A Kestrel for a Knave | Books | The Guardian Books Barry Hines obituary: author of A Kestrel for a Knave Novelist and screenwriter whose most famous book, A Kestrel for a Knave, was turned into the 1969 film Kes David Bradley, left, as Billy Casper with Colin Welland in the film Kes. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar Sunday 20 March 2016 08.48 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 3 May 2016 13.11 EDT Share on Messenger Close Barry Hines, who has died aged 76, wrote about working-class lives for more than 40 years and, while the results were sometimes gloomy (reality often is), he kept an eye for the decency and hope in people.

In his most famous book, A Kestrel for a Knave (1968) – filmed as Kes a year later by Ken Loach – Barry forged the emblem of a ragged generation, Billy Casper. Everyone knew a Casper: half-boy, half-pigeon, disowned by his family and school, left to shuffle through life in a 10-bob anorak and half-mast trousers. The book’s inclusion on school syllabuses meant it became embedded in the psyche of British cultural life. Almost everyone is aware of Kes, if not of its author, and many adults of a certain age claim it as one of the few books they have read. Barry said of his work: “My books are all conventional in form. They have a beginning, a middle and a sort of ending – mainly in that order – with the occasional flashback thrown in.” This simplistic explanation was typical of Barry who, in life and writing, disliked anything ornate or untruthful and balked at sentimentality. Many readers still recall the sadness they felt at the death of the hawk in A Kestrel for a Knave. “How often are dreams realised in real life?” said Hines in a press interview.

“I write about real people and show a section of their life, without the Hollywood endings which rarely happen outside Hollywood. Disney offered to make Kes, on the condition that the hawk recovered. Should we have sold out? I know which way would always be right for me.” Pinterest ‘I write about real people and show a section of their life, without the Hollywood endings,’ said Barry Hines. ‘Disney offered to make Kes, on the condition that the hawk recovered. Should we have sold out?’ Photograph: Ben Duffy/SWpix.com Son of Dick and Annie, Barry was born in the South Yorkshire mining village of Hoyland Common , near Barnsley, where he sought out the rolling fields and rich woods beyond the pithead. He brought this pastoral refuge to A Kestrel for a Knave, to serve as a counterpoint to the agitation in Casper’s life. Both Barry’s father and grandfather (who was killed in a pit accident) were miners and, despite attending Ecclesfield grammar school, on the outskirts of Sheffield, Barry trained as an apprentice mining surveyor. He was regularly admonished by the miners for “not using his brains” and, chastened, left to enrol at college.

He studied physical education at Loughborough Training College, chiefly because he was an outstanding footballer; he had represented England grammar schools in an international match against Scotland. He taught for two years in a London comprehensive before returning north to teach PE – this experience also informed A Kestrel for a Knave, which was set largely in classrooms and on school grounds. His debut book, The Blinder (1966), was one of the first novels about football. Its protagonist was Lennie Hawk, a young player torn between his love of the game and college studies. Barry was told by a professional footballer that the writer knew “what the game was all about”. He considered this one of the best critiques he had ever received. Barry was often considered to be part of the generation of celebrated northern writers (and to a lesser extent the angry young man movement) including Alan Sillitoe , Stan Barstow , John Braine and Keith Waterhouse , yet was a decade younger than most of them.

He followed A Kestrel for a Knave with a series of novels reflecting the lives of the proletariat – First Signs (1972), The Gamekeeper (1975), The Price of Coal (1979), Looks and Smiles (1981), Unfinished Business (1983), The Heart of It (1994) and Elvis Over England (1998). Three of these books – The Gamekeeper, The Price of Coal and Looks and Smiles – were filmed by Loach, with Barry writing the screenplays. Pinterest Kes, 1969 He wrote intermittently for radio and television. In 1970 his 1965 radio play Billy’s Last Stand, about an exploited labourer, was staged at the Royal Court theatre, London, and a television version was broadcast by the BBC in 1971. He contributed a play, Speech Day (again set in a school), to the BBC’s Play for Today strand in 1973.

Another play, Two Men from Derby, broadcast by the BBC in 1976, was based on the experiences of his grandfather who had a great talent for football but, according to Barry, never realised his potential. Barry’s most memorable television work, the drama-documentary Threads (1984), was set at the height of the cold war and chronicled the effect of a nuclear bomb dropped on a northern city. Despite the overwhelming apocalyptic theme, Barry drove the story into the lives of ordinary people, which served to further hone a sense of desolation. Threads won four Bafta awards from a total of seven nominations. I first met Barry in 1997 when I had been sent to interview him by a newspaper. He asked me to meet him at his writing den, a small office on the campus of Sheffield Hallam University . I was struck by the starkness of the room: a postcard on the wall, a desk, a pen and a few sheets of paper, and that was about it – no books, computer or telephone. On the floor was a tiny kettle, holding just enough water to fill a single mug.

Barry did not go in for social protocol, asking how you were and whether you had had a pleasant journey. This wasn’t for effect or to invoke power play; he had other things on his mind. After a few minutes, it didn’t matter anyway, because he had an aura that coalesced kindness with straight talking. In short, he felt good to be around. During our conversation he often repeated the word “wondrous”. A lot of things were wondrous: being able to work as a writer and not down the pit; Barnsley FC’s current form; the standard of scriptwriting on Coronation Street; American crime novels. He sang the word, much like a kid would having just learned it. Barry Hines 1970 interview - from the archive Read more When I set up an independent publishing company, Pomona, in 2003, Barry was one of the first writers I approached. I asked if I could republish Looks and Smiles and The Price of Coal. Both are light on narrative but heavy with truth. Mick Walsh, the protagonist in Looks and Smiles, wants to be a motorcycle mechanic but bad luck, inexperience and tough economic times prevent him getting a job.

The book is a postcard from the grubby economic wasteland of the early 1980s. The Price of Coal was a vehicle for Barry to scrutinise class politics. The bosses of Milton colliery are delighted when the Prince of Wales agrees to visit and they begin to spend on a “top show” – painting the offices and planting flowers. Down below, deep in the earth, the lives of the miners are at risk due to faulty machinery and decaying pit-props. The tragic outcome is inevitable. Writers can be very fussy and precious about their work and I imagined I might encounter a more anxious and vain Barry Hines. He remained the same person I had met in that tiny room. He was flattered by my interest, trusting me with the covers and contract, happy to help. We sold only a few hundred copies but Barry did not seem to mind. Later, I learned that he had a folder of unpublished work labelled “Early poetry, short stories”. From this we assembled an anthology, This Artistic Life, containing stories dating back mainly to the late 60s and early 70s. It was his last book. Barry was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007.

He and his wife, Eleanor, had moved from Sheffield back to Hoyland Common. “It’s like I have never been away,’’ he said at the time. ‘‘When I went into the local working men’s club, after nearly 40 years, the blokes just said ‘Ayup Barry’ and went back to their cards. That quiet acceptance makes me feel at home. It is very pretty round here now that all the tips have been landscaped and there are nice walks.” Many years ago, another writer congratulated Barry on his “iron integrity”. This very quality probably led to him becoming an overlooked figure in later life. He had too much pride and dignity to kowtow to agents and publishers and pushy PR people. They could all bugger off – a rejoinder typical of many of Barry’s characters and why, ultimately, his books were so well loved. He survived by Eleanor, and his children, Tom and Sally, from a previous marriage. Mark Hodkinson Tony Garnett writes: I worked on four films with Barry Hines: Kes, The Price of Coal (a two-parter for the BBC in 1977) and Born Kicking (1992).

Barry’s character and his writing were all of a piece: direct, simple and honest. His simplicity was hewn out of a close analysis of others and their place in a society riven by class interests. To the end, he knew which side he was on. He had been born to the sound of clogs, on their way to Rockingham pit, where his father worked. The miners were his own extended family, a family his work defended through the decades. Their story is one of dignity and of humour in adversity. He told it with compressed fury. He had never drifted far from Hoyland Common, content to sit sipping a pint there with his miner neighbours. He would go to London for meetings, an obedient dog at his heels, but was not impressed by London parties or famous people. Everyone talked too much. Empty vessels, he said. Barry was an angry man with a sweet nature. He was loyal. His blue eyes were like shining lamps: you could see into them, they shone out at you, assuming your honesty. He was without guile and only ever wrote about what he knew. Through the characters he created, he became the voice of his community.

What they thought of his work in South Yorkshire was more important to him than any London critic’s opinion. As a teenager he played football for England grammar schools and he could have turned professional. Instead, he became a teacher in a secondary modern near Barnsley and, typically, when writing the first draft of A Kestrel for a Knave, sought notes from the children in his class. They were, after all, the experts. In The Price of Coal he revealed not only his angry compassion for the daily dangers of mining, but an acknowledgment of the feudal backwardness in his community. That saddened this republican, but he understood the resilience of ancient ideologies: after all, the miners around him once worked underneath, and enriched, Earl Fitzwilliam’s Wentworth estate. He dealt with it through affectionate satire. His first love being football, it was fitting that our last work together was Born Kicking, a fantasy around the first female footballer to play for England. He would have been glad to see the women’s game gain in confidence. Barry would look puzzled if you said he was an Englishman. He detested patriotism. He despised professional Yorkshiremen, too: that celebrity which demeans as it caricatures.

But he was a Yorkshireman, nonetheless: in independence, in humour, in canniness and in sheer bloody stubbornness. Like so many, I loved and respected him. • Melvin Barry Hines, writer, born 30 June 1939; died 18 March 2016 A Kestrel for a Knave - Barry Hines - Google Books A Kestrel for a Knave 1 Review With prose that is every bit as raw, intense and bitingly honest as the world it depicts, Barry Hines's A Kestrel for a Knave contains a new afterword by the author in Penguin Modern Classics. Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a troubled teenager growing up in the small Yorkshire mining town of Barnsley. Treated as a failure at school, and unhappy at home, Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk. Billy identifies with her silent strength and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else can, discovering through her the passion missing from his life. Barry Hines's acclaimed novel continues to reach new generations of teenagers and adults with its powerful story of survival in a tough, joyless world.

Ken Loach's renowned film adaptation, Kes, has achieved cult status and in his new afterword Barry Hines discusses his work to adapt the novel into a screenplay, and reappraises the legacy of a book that has become a popular classic. Barry Hines (b. 1939) was born in the mining village of Hoyland Common, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Leaving Ecclesfield Grammar School without any qualifications, Hines worked as an apprentice mining surveyor for the National Coal Board before entering Loughborough Training College to study Physical Education. Working as a teacher in Hoyland Common, he wrote novels in the school library after work, later turning to writing full-time. If you enjoyed A Kestrel for a Knave, you might like The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories by Jack London, published in Penguin Classics.

From inside the book View all » Common terms and phrases allus ball Barnsley Barry Hines beak began Billy Casper Billy looked Billy ran Billy sat Billy stood Billy turned Billy walked Billy watched Billy's bird song birds bottom boys bricks centre climbed closed corner corridor crew cut cricket bats dark desk door edge eleven-plus eyes face falconry Farthing feet fence field fingers fish and chip fist flicked football front German Bight glanced glove goin grass grey Gryce hand hawk hedge inside jacket jumped kestrel leash legs looked round lure MacDowall Manchester United mother nest nowt path picked pocket pulled pushed reached shed shook his head shouting shut side slowly smiled South Yorkshire stared started stepped stopped straight Sugden summat swung tell there's thumb Tibbut Toby Jug turned round waiting wall What's window wings wood yard About the author (2000) Barry Hines was born in the mining village of Hoyland Common, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Educated at Eccelsfield Grammar School, Hines then worked as an apprentice mining surveyor and played football for Barnsley before studying Physical Education at Loughborough Training College. He taught for several years in London and Yorkshire before becoming a full-time writer.

Hines has written 8 other novels and television scripts. Barry Hines, author behind Kes story, dies aged 76 - Telegraph Celebrity news Barry Hines, author behind Kes story, dies aged 76 A Kestrel For A Knave novelist - whose book was adapted for classic Ken Loach film - dies seven years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease Barry Hines, the author from South Yorkshire who helped put Barnsley on the cultural map Photo: Ben Duffy/SWpix.com Follow Barry Hines, the author whose novel A Kestrel For A Knave was adapted for the film Kes , has died aged 76. The writer from South Yorkshire put Barnsley on the cultural map with the story that was adapted for the highly-acclaimed Ken Loach movie. Hines, who collaborated with Loach on several other projects, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009. Hie death was announced on Twitter on Sunday by Ian McMillan, the poet and radio presenter, and later confirmed by a friend of the author. Very sad news: the great writer Barry Hines, creator of Barnsley's defining myth A Kestrel For A Knave, has died. Rest in peace.

— Ian McMillan (@IMcMillan) March 20, 2016 Born in a small mining village near Barnsley, Hines also wrote Threads, a 1984 BBC film that dramatised the effects of a nuclear strike on Sheffield. He wrote nine novels over a career that spanned almost 50 years, but it was his second book about a young boy who escapes his troubled school life by training a kestrel that brought him to public prominence. Written in 1968, it was adapted for the film Kes, which was ranked seventh in the British Film Institute 's top 10 British films. Fans of Hines's work and fellow authors paid tribute to the writer, with actress Kathy Burke calling him "our generation's JK (Rowling)". Joanne Harris, who wrote the novel Chocolat, said his work gave her "hope": RIP, Barry Hines: I hated and loved him at the same time - for writing the world I saw every day, and for giving me hope to escape it...

— Joanne Harris (@Joannechocolat) March 20, 2016 Actor David Morrissey also paid tribute to Hines on Twitter, describing him as having a "huge influence" on him: Sad news bout Barry Hines.Loved his writing growing up,KES, a huge influence on me,but alsoThe Blinder, Looks and Smiles+Price of Coal. RIP — David Morrissey (@davemorrissey64) March 20, 2016 Michael Dugher, MP for Barnsley East, said he was had "brilliant, inspiring talent": Just seen this. Sad news. Such a brilliant, inspiring talent. #RIP #BarryHines — Michael Dugher MP (@MichaelDugher) March 20, 2016 Tony Garnett, who produced the film Kes, paid his own tribute to an "old friend", saying: "Kes writer Barry Hines is dead.

I'm sad, thinking of my old friend, a man I loved." Journalist and Man And Boy author Tony Parsons described Hines as "inspirational": RIP the inspirational Barry Hines - who gave us Billy Casper and Kes and his novel A Kestrel For A Knave. pic.twitter.com/9W5o8gVTpr — Tony Parsons (@TonyParsonsUK) March 20, 2016 Hines was born in the village of Hoyland Common and went to Ecclesfield Grammar School in Sheffield, where he played football, making the England Grammar Schools team. He left school without any qualifications and joined the National Coal Board as an apprentice mining surveyor. But a neighbour persuaded him to return to his studies and he eventually trained as a teacher at Loughborough College, teaching PE in London and South Yorkshire, reportedly writing novels in a school library after pupils had gone home. Among his novels was The Blinder - his first, published in 1966 - about a gifted young footballer, and he also wrote the screenplay for the TV drama Threads, which imagined the chilling effect of a nuclear attack in Sheffield.

But it is for A Kestrel For A Knave, the moving story about the working-class teenager Billy Casper and his relationship with his pet kestrel, that he will remain best-known and loved. Kes, the 1969 film directed by Ken Loach, starred David Bradley Photo: Everett Collection / Rex Features The book was inspired by his younger brother Richard's experiences with kestrels as a child. Considered a modern classic, it has for years been widely taught in schools as a set text. Speaking about his novel to Yorkshire's On:Magazine four years ago, he said: "I think that I painted an accurate picture of what life was like for someone like Billy 40 years ago.

Looking back, maybe I was not as sympathetic as I could have been to some of the adult characters ..." He also spoke of the responsibility he felt to the people of Yorkshire and the areas he so often wrote about, saying: "The main thing for me is to feel that I have represented them well." Barry Hines, creator of Kes, dies at 76 - BBC News BBC News Barry Hines, creator of Kes, dies at 76 20 March 2016 Close share panel Image caption Hines, pictured in 1984, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009 Barry Hines, the Yorkshire author who wrote the novel on which Ken Loach's film Kes was based, has died aged 76. The news was announced on Twitter by the poet Ian McMillan and subsequently confirmed by a friend of the author. Born in a mining village near Barnsley, Hines also wrote Threads, a 1984 BBC film that dramatised the effects of a nuclear strike on Sheffield. Hines, who collaborated with Loach on a number of other projects, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009.

Hines, who was born in Hoyland Common in 1939, left school without qualifications but later returned to complete his education. He went on to become a teacher before turning to writing and publishing his first novel, The Blinder, in 1966. Image copyright Rex Features Image caption David Bradley played the lead role of Billy in Kes, the film of Hines's best-known novel His second novel - A Kestrel for a Knave - about a young working-class boy named Billy who finds and trains a kestrel, was published in 1968 and filmed the following year. According to McMillan, the book had a massive impact on a generation of Yorkshire writers. "It was our Moby Dick," he told BBC News. "It taught us that people from around here can write, that the places we live in can be fit places for literature." Two of Hines's subsequent novels, The Gamekeeper and Looks and Smiles, were also filmed by Loach, for whom the author also wrote the 1977 TV drama The Price of Coal.

Hines's other credits include the 1992 TV film Born Kicking, about a female footballer signed up to play for her local team. The author had himself played football as a child for the England Grammar School team. Media captionA clip from 1984 drama Threads Actor David Morrissey is among those to have paid tribute to the author, tweeting that he had "loved" Hines's writing and that Kes had been "a huge influence". Authors Jonathan Coe and Joanne Harris have also paid their respects, with the former tweeting that he " leaves a great legacy ". "I hated and loved [Hines] at the same time," wrote Harris , "for writing the world I saw every day, and for giving me hope to escape it." Michael Dugher, Labour MP for Barnsley East, remembered Hines as " a brilliant, inspiring talent ". Hines's brother Richard recently published a memoir, No Way But Gentlenesse , in which he revealed it had been his falconry skills that had inspired his older sibling's best-known work.

"[Barry] said, 'I'm going to write this book about this kid who keeps a kestrel,'" Richard Hines told BBC 6 Music last month. "I thought, 'That's not a very good idea.' "I said, 'I wouldn't give him a kestrel, let him train an escaped goshawk.' If Barry had listened to me, there would have been no Kes." Kes Barry Hines - AbeBooks Kes Barry Hines Results (1 - 30) of 134 1 ISBN 10: 0435232886 ISBN 13: 9780435232887 Used ISBN 10: 0435232886 ISBN 13: 9780435232887 Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Heinemann, 1993. Hardcover. Book Condition: Good. Good condition is defined as: a copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear.

The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Bookseller Inventory # mon0005344141 ISBN 10: 0435232886 ISBN 13: 9780435232887 Used ISBN 10: 0435235001 ISBN 13: 9780435235000 Used Paperback ISBN 10: 2070331598 ISBN 13: 9782070331598 Used Couverture souple ISBN 10: 0435232886 ISBN 13: 9780435232887 Used Paperback ISBN 10: 0435232886 ISBN 13: 9780435232887 Used Hardcover Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1993. Hardcover.

Book Condition: Used; Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence!. Bookseller Inventory # mon0001470935 ISBN 10: 0435232886 ISBN 13: 9780435232887 Used Hardcover ISBN 10: 0241978963 ISBN 13: 9780241978962 New Paperback Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Penguin Books Ltd, United Kingdom, 2016. Paperback. Book Condition: New. 181 x 111 mm. Language: English . Brand New Book. The classic book that inspired Kes, the famous film, now published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Barry Hines s A Kestrel for a Knave was published in 1968, and was made into one of the key British films of the sixties. Billy Casper is beaten by his drunken brother, ignored by his mother and failing at school.

He seems destined for a hard, miserable life down the pits, but for a brief time, he finds one pleasure in life: a wild kestrel that he has raised and tamed himself. Bookseller Inventory # LIB9780241978962 ISBN 10: 0330500708 ISBN 13: 9780330500708 Used Paperback ISBN 10: 0435235001 ISBN 13: 9780435235000 Used Soft cover ISBN 10: 0141184981 ISBN 13: 9780141184982 New Paperback Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Penguin Books Ltd, United Kingdom, 2010. Paperback. Book Condition: New. 192 x 126 mm. Language: English . Brand New Book.

With prose that is every bit as raw, intense and bitingly honest as the world it depicts, Barry Hines s A Kestrel for a Knave contains a new afterword by the author in Penguin Modern Classics. Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a troubled teenager growing up in the small Yorkshire mining town of Barnsley. Treated as a failure at school, and unhappy at home, Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk. Billy identifies with her silent strength and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else can, discovering through her the passion missing from his life. Barry Hines s acclaimed novel continues to reach new generations of teenagers and adults with its powerful story of survival in a tough, joyless world. Ken Loach s renowned film adaptation, Kes, has achieved cult status and in his new afterword Barry Hines discusses his work to adapt the novel into a screenplay, and reappraises the legacy of a book that has become a popular classic. Barry Hines (b. 1939) was born in the mining village of Hoyland Common, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Leaving Ecclesfield Grammar School without any qualifications, Hines worked as an apprentice mining surveyor for the National Coal Board before entering Loughborough Training College to study Physical Education. Working as a teacher in Hoyland Common, he wrote novels in the school library after work, later turning to writing full-time. If you enjoyed A Kestrel for a Knave, you might like The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories by Jack London, published in Penguin Classics. Bookseller Inventory # APG9780141184982 Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Penguin Books Ltd, United Kingdom, 2010. Paperback. Book Condition: New. 192 x 126 mm. Language: English . Brand New Book. With prose that is every bit as raw, intense and bitingly honest as the world it depicts, Barry Hines s A Kestrel for a Knave contains a new afterword by the author in Penguin Modern Classics. Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a troubled teenager growing up in the small Yorkshire mining town of Barnsley.

Treated as a failure at school, and unhappy at home, Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk. Billy identifies with her silent strength and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else can, discovering through her the passion missing from his life. Barry Hines s acclaimed novel continues to reach new generations of teenagers and adults with its powerful story of survival in a tough, joyless world. Ken Loach s renowned film adaptation, Kes, has achieved cult status and in his new afterword Barry Hines discusses his work to adapt the novel into a screenplay, and reappraises the legacy of a book that has become a popular classic. Barry Hines (b. 1939) was born in the mining village of Hoyland Common, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Leaving Ecclesfield Grammar School without any qualifications, Hines worked as an apprentice mining surveyor for the National Coal Board before entering Loughborough Training College to study Physical Education. Working as a teacher in Hoyland Common, he wrote novels in the school library after work, later turning to writing full-time.

If you enjoyed A Kestrel for a Knave, you might like The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories by Jack London, published in Penguin Classics. Bookseller Inventory # APG9780141184982 Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Penguin Books Ltd, United Kingdom, 2016. Paperback. Book Condition: New. 181 x 111 mm. Language: English . Brand New Book. The classic book that inspired Kes, the famous film, now published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Barry Hines s A Kestrel for a Knave was published in 1968, and was made into one of the key British films of the sixties. Billy Casper is beaten by his drunken brother, ignored by his mother and failing at school. He seems destined for a hard, miserable life down the pits, but for a brief time, he finds one pleasure in life: a wild kestrel that he has raised and tamed himself.

Bookseller Inventory # LIB9780241978962 Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Softcover. Book Condition: New. First edition. This collection explores life on earth and our place within it. It celebrates the diversity of our environment, and reflects on how our planet is changing and what we can do to protect it. The texts include a range of non-fiction and fiction extracts, short stories and poetry, and are arranged in four themed sections: Wild things, Water worlds, Nature`s power and Future planet. The collection include texts by David Attenborough, Sujata Bhatt, John Clare, Susan Cooper, Roger Deakin and Michael Morpurgo. Contents 1. Wild things: My Life with the Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall Maninagar Days, Sujata Bhatt Kite, Melvin Burgess: The Play of Kes, Barry Hines and Allan Stronach The Fish, Elizabeth Bishop The Sudden Knowledge of Moles, Mike Gould The Wild Side of Town, Chris Packham Snakes, A.K. Ramanujan Life in Cold Blood, David Attenborough Fantastic Mr Fox, Tim Adams Activities 2.

Water worlds: Gone to Sea, Michael Morpurgo Daughter of the Sea, Berlie Doherty The Fringe of the Sea, by A.L. Hendriks For River, Helen Hubbard Sea Timeless Song, Grace Nichols The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch Waterlog, Roger Deakin 3. Nature`s power: Dust Storm, Karen Hesse Hurricane Gold, Charlie Higson To Build a Fire, Jack London Wind, Ted Hughes The Hail Storm in June 1831, John Clare The Letters of Pliny the Younger, Pliny the Younger Nature Cure, Richard Mabey Activities 4. Future planet: Green Boy, Susan Cooper Floodland, Marcus Sedgwick Two poems, Jamie McKendrick Classic Combo, David Heatley The Urban Farmer, Kate Burt The Rough Guide to Climate Change, Robert Henson How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take to Change a Planet?, Tony Juniper The Final Straw, Simon Armitage The Forgotten Enemy, Arthur C.Clarke Activities Notes on authors. Printed Pages: 240. Bookseller Inventory # 10677 Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Softcover.

Book Condition: New. First edition. This collection explores life on earth and our place within it. It celebrates the diversity of our environment, and reflects on how our planet is changing and what we can do to protect it. The texts include a range of non-fiction and fiction extracts, short stories and poetry, and are arranged in four themed sections: Wild things, Water worlds, Nature`s power and Future planet. The collection include texts by David Attenborough, Sujata Bhatt, John Clare, Susan Cooper, Roger Deakin and Michael Morpurgo. Contents 1. Wild things: My Life with the Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall Maninagar Days, Sujata Bhatt Kite, Melvin Burgess: The Play of Kes, Barry Hines and Allan Stronach The Fish, Elizabeth Bishop The Sudden Knowledge of Moles, Mike Gould The Wild Side of Town, Chris Packham Snakes, A.K. Ramanujan Life in Cold Blood, David Attenborough Fantastic Mr Fox, Tim Adams Activities 2. Water worlds: Gone to Sea, Michael Morpurgo Daughter of the Sea, Berlie Doherty The Fringe of the Sea, by A.L.

Hendriks For River, Helen Hubbard Sea Timeless Song, Grace Nichols The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch Waterlog, Roger Deakin 3. Nature`s power: Dust Storm, Karen Hesse Hurricane Gold, Charlie Higson To Build a Fire, Jack London Wind, Ted Hughes The Hail Storm in June 1831, John Clare The Letters of Pliny the Younger, Pliny the Younger Nature Cure, Richard Mabey Activities 4. Future planet: Green Boy, Susan Cooper Floodland, Marcus Sedgwick Two poems, Jamie McKendrick Classic Combo, David Heatley The Urban Farmer, Kate Burt The Rough Guide to Climate Change, Robert Henson How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take to Change a Planet?, Tony Juniper The Final Straw, Simon Armitage The Forgotten Enemy, Arthur C.Clarke Activities Notes on authors. Printed Pages: 240. Bookseller Inventory # 10677

Question: The film Kes is based on which book by the author Barry Hines?
Answer: A Kestrel for a Knave